There are places with enough open slopes you can learn right now I think.
I roughly know about 2 resorts because I have housing in one of them (Alpe D’Huez), so always go there, and see the other when I do mountain flying:
Les 2 alpes had plenty of snow in the high altitude area (which is where the begginer slopes are). (I overflew it)
Alpe d’huez had a couple blues open, but there might be a bit hard for you in the first couple of days.
Where there is snow, it is good.
Going now has many advantages. Resorts are basically EMPTY, which makes it much easier for skiing:
- there are less “living obstacles”. That means you don’t have to take evasive action / you won’t get scared by someone doing a fast pass near you.
- snow doesn’t get as damaged by skiers
Then you also have the following advantages:
- much more availability of ski instructors (maybe you can even get a “group” lesson (much cheaper) where you’ll actually be the only person)
- accomodation much more available / cheaper (for the same price you probably get Justine something better!)
As said, still related to aviation, you have plenty of options to fly there:
- Grenoble Isere (1h10 drive)
- Lyon bron (1h40 drive from Lyon St exupery – you have to take taxi between the 2 airports)
- Geneva (more like 2h30 drive)
I you don’t want to drive, you have trains / buses (from airports, and local (less findable on internet) from Grenoble train station). If you want more details email me and I can help.
If you go to either of them, I of course highly recommend you do some mountain flying (not sure they do instruction in English, I can ask though):
Peter wrote:
I didn’t think Zermatt had any easy skiing, except little slopes for kids.
Most of Zermatt red runs are super easy, and extra wide. And not crowded which is an extra bonus. One or two are trickier but your instructor will know. Don’t take my word for it, check the webcams – especially the Trockener Steg . As I said – we take absolute beginners and intermediates there with no issue.
If you get the extended pass to Cervinia it is even better. There is an awesome sunny slope going from Klein Matterhorn (4000m give or take) all the way to Valtournenche (1500m) or a great 2500m drop with just a 1 minute chair in the middle. And it passes by some awesome restaurants.
Should you really want to GA it you can land in Sion which has customs and hard parking as far as the eye can see…
Price selection works pretty well, and not everybody who goes there actually hits the slopes.
@Peter when considering yous ski trips I note ANNECY has taken out the ILS. There’s an LPV approach now.
I think except at the big hub airports this will gradually happen throughout Europe over the next few years, with France leading the way.
Indeed; I have one eye out for LPV but need Shoreham to make the move before I do it. Also I am not likely to do a ski trip in OVC002 because the general wx in the area may not be much good. Also right now I am not in a position to manage yet another complicated project like a total re-hash of the avionics stack. This winter will be a new engine and hopefully TKS if the bits actually turn up mid-Jan as last quoted 
So, my plan is TB20 ski trips in January and then I am grounded. BTW LFAT has re-instated its ILS, so there may be more to that French story, at least in some places…
Peter wrote:
Also I am not likely to do a ski trip in OVC002 because the general wx in the area may not be much good
You’ll often find the resort / slopes well above cloud ceiling. 2 weeks ago that was the case, for a week I had blue skies, the only clouds I saw was when flying and peeking at the grenoble / lyon area (From well above).
Well – my ski club has been taking novices there every year since 1943… and never lost a single one. A week is enough time to progress to “intermediate”.
There are offers around say for January at a three star hotel for about 1000-1200 CHF a week.
Where there’s a will there’s a way…
